Machine for shrinking hat-bodies



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. TAYLOR, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

i MACHINE FOR SHRINKING HAT-BODIES.

To au whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES S. TAYLOR, of Danbury, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulMachine to be Used in the Manufacture of Hats; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theconstruction and operation of the same, reference being had to the'annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figurel is a perspective view of the whole machine; and Fig. 2, a sectionalview of the rollers of the machine.

The purpose of my machine is to facilitate the manufacturing ofhats;during the process of felting or shrinking.

The machine consists of any suitable number of rollers, placednearlyhorizontally on a frame or vat; and so arranged, as to form a cavity orchamber between them, of sufficient size to receive the hat when rolledup after having been partially felted. a, a, a, the rollers, b, b, thevat, and c, the cavity or chamber. See both figures of the drawing. Therollers are each provided with a pulley at one end, and driven with across band Yfrom a'driving wheel. el, CZ, CZ, al, the pulleys. e, thedriving wheel and f, the band. The band surrounds all the rollers andthus drives them all one way. The vat is intended to contain hot wateror other liquids used in the manufacturing of hats; so that the hat maybe partially immersed if desirable during its passage through thechamber between the rollers. for the above purpose, about four feet longand three inches in diameter at each end; and twoand one half inches inthe middle. These rollers are placed diagonally to each other. Or inother words, the line of the axis of any one roller, if continued, wouldcross the line of the axis of any other roller in the series. This is inorder to make the I generally use concave rollers chamber between therollers, of nearly equal size from end to end.

By this device, I secure not only a rotary motion to the hat when in thecavity; but also a longitudinal motion. The machine when in use ispropelled by hand or other power; and the operator rolls up the hat,after having been partially felted; and inserts it into the chamber atthe ends of the rollers. It immediately receives a rotary motion, andalso advances endwise of the rollers; and comes out of the opposite endof the chamber. The hat is then unrolled, and rolled up in a differentdirection, and put through the machine again. This process is repeated,as often as is necessary to felt, or shrink, the hat sufficiently.

Rollers of equal size from end to end, and placed parallel to each otheraround a chamber, may be used. But in this case the longitudinal motionwould be lost; and it would be necessary to displace one or more of therollers, to insert the hat into the chamber.

The rollers and vat may be made of wood or metal or both combined. Theymay also be propelled by gearing or bands to suit the convenience of theoperator. The vat should be made of a size suitable to receive therollers as described herein and the area. of thc driving wheel should beas large as all of the pulleys combined.

What I claim is The process of shrinking or sizing the hat bodies bypassing them longitudinally into or through a chamber formed by placingseveral cylinders or rollers (having concave or other denomination ofsurfaces) in such a proximity as to form the said chamber ashereinbefore substantially set forth.

wvtnesses: JAMES S. TAYLOR.

A. H. WILDMAN, JOEL TAYLOR.

